Tag: war

After the end of World War II, as many as 9,000 high-ranking Nazi officersescapedpunishment in Germany and fledabroad, most of them to South America. Over 5,000 started a new life in Argentina, the rest were scattered across Brazil, Paraguay and other countries.

At the beginning of World War II, Argentina already had a large German community. President Juan Peron sympathized with the Third Reich and helped set up routes in Spain and Italy, through which Nazi officers escaped. He also gave them false passports and new identities.

With the help of the Vatican and relief organisations like the Red Cross, more and more Nazis poured into South America, building a network of contacts that made it easier for the rest of them to flee. In the decades after the war, some were tracked down and brought back to Germany, however many Nazis escaped justice.

One of the most famous Nazis who found his way to South America was Adolph Eichmann. He was an SS officer in charge of Hitler’s final solution – sending millions of Jews to death camps all across Europe. He lived in Buenos Aires until 1960 when a team of Israeli intelligence officerscaptured him and got him out of the country. After his trial in Jerusalem, he was hanged in 1962.

Another famous Nazi was Joseph Mengele, a doctor who conducted medical experiments at the Auschwitz death camp, where he often used prisoners as guinea pigs. He spent several years in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay where he died in 1979.

Adolf Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem in 1962

Words

abroad = to a country across the ocean; here: North or South America

capture = to catch a person and keep them as prisoner

community = people who live together in the same area

conduct = carry out

death camp = place where a large number of prisoners are killed or die

decade = ten years

escape = get away from a bad or dangerous situation; leave a place because it is dangerous

false passport = here: a passport that is not real, with a made-up identity

flee – fled = escape; get away from a bad situation

guinea pig = someone who is used in a test or experiment to see how successful something new is

high-ranking = in a high position in an organisation

hang – hanged = to kill someone with a rope around their neck

however = but

identity = name

in charge of = responsible for

intelligence officer = person of a foreign government who tries to collect secret information in other countries

justice = system by which criminals are punished

network = system

officer = someone who has power in the military or police department

pour into = come in large numbers

prisoner = someone who is kept in prison for a crime they may have committed

punishment = to make somebody suffer because they have done something that is against the law

relief organization = organization that helps people who are in danger

scattered = spread over a large area of land

sympathize = here: like, support, help

Third Reich = period of Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler

track down = to find someone who has been hiding

trial = legal process in which a judge and a jury in a courtroom decide if a person is guilty or not

More than a hundred years after it had disappeared, Australia’s first submarine was finally discovered. The submarine, called AE-1 , went missing on September 14, 1914, with a crew of 35 on board. It was the first Allied submarine loss of the war.

After decades of searching, the missing Australian sub was found about 300 metresunderwater, off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It appears to be well-preserved and in one piece. Experts are now trying to examine the wreck and find out why the sub sank. They think it was probably an accident and not because of enemy fire.

The sub was on a mission to occupy German New Guinea, one of the German colonies in the Pacific.

In the past, there were 13 government – funded searches for the sub but, until now, none of them proved successful. When thesubmarinewasfound navyofficials held a commemorative service for the crew that the Australian navy had lost. Families were contacted and told that the oldest naval mystery in Australian history had finally been solved.

Missing Australian submarine AE-1

Words

Allied = group of countries that fought together in the first and second World Wars

appear = seems to be

coast = where land meets the sea

colony = area that is under control by a government that is far away

commemorative service = event that shows you remember and respect something important that happened a long time ago

crew = all the people who worked on the sub

decade = ten years

disappear = here: to get lost

discover = here : find

enemy fire = attack by the enemy

examine = look at something closely in order to find out more about it

government – funded = paid for by the state

in one piece = not broken

loss = not having something anymore

mission = important job, done by the army, air force or navy

naval = about the navy

navy = part of a country’s military that fights at sea

occupy = to enter a place with an army and keep control of it

official = here: a person in a high position in an organisation

prove successful = if something you try to do really works the way you want it to